New mental wellness program targets student anxiety

Sheldon Hill, a student wellness educator at Brescia University College (left), and Jessica Marson, a fourth year family studies student and one of Brescia's wellness education peers. CHRIS MONTANINI\LONDONERLD

A new initiative at Brescia University College in London could help to mitigate mental health issues among students.

Implemented in September and offered in partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Oxford, the pilot program, Living Life to the Full, pulls best practices from cognitive behaviour therapy and is designed to help students understand their feelings, thoughts and behaviours, while increasing their resiliency through the use of hands-on tools to mitigate anxiety, depression and the pressures of everyday university life.

The program was initially constructed for the geriatric population and has recently been reformatted for other demographics, including students.

“We really are seeing a lot of anxiety with students, which isn’t surprising considering the student experience of exams and assignments and all of the other things that life brings them,” says Sheldon Hill, student wellness educator at Brescia University College.

Statistics back up Hill’s observations, pointing to the fact that student anxiety and depression are on the rise. The most recent National College Health Assessment Survey paints a rather troubling picture. The 2016 North American survey found that close to 20 per cent of Canadian post-secondary students are depressed or anxious and that 13 per cent of students have contemplated suicide.

“Students are finding it hard to regulate the emotions that are leading to suicidal thoughts because they feel very overwhelmed. Programs like Living Life to the Full are designed to instill the knowledge and skills in students, so when and if they do start to have a tough time, they know the things they can do to regulate their emotions,” says Hill.

Brescia University College, a Catholic liberal arts women’s college, affiliated with Western University, is the first university in the province to pilot the six-week long Living Life to the Full program. Currently 20 first and second year students are taking part, attending two-hour hands-on sessions once per week. The sessions are facilitated by CMHA-Oxford.

Living Life to the Full is part of a larger suite of wellness offerings under the umbrella of the Wellness Education Program at the London-based University.

One of its most successful programs is Smiling Minds, a mindfulness and meditation drop-in program run by Brescia’s Wellness Education Peers, a newly launched student-run volunteer organization, supervised by Hill.

“We are really working to promote resiliency within students,” says Jessica Marson, a fourth year family studies student and one of Brescia’s wellness education peers. “Obviously university comes with the stresses of academics and life and work and everything else that comes along with being in our age group.”

The Smiling Minds program runs twice a week on a drop-in basis and assists students in staying in the present moment using guided meditation or a mindfulness script.

“Anxiety is a future-oriented emotion, so if we can give people the tools to bring them back to the present moment, even for just half-an-hour twice a week, it can be really helpful,” says Hill.

He says that research findings are encouraging. “Mindfulness practice can improve self-awareness, reduce stress, anxiety, depression and sleep problems and increase the capacity to tolerate unhelpful thoughts.”

Once the six-week Living Life to the Full pilot project is complete, Hill says the university will be conducting assessments as to its tangibility and workability before moving forward with a long-term offering.

“We just want to ensure that it is hitting the target in improving resiliency within the student population,” says Hill.